Wallenstein, Albrecht Wenzel Eusebius von, << WAHL uhn `styn` or VAHL uhn `shtyn, AHL brehkt VEHN tsuhl oy ZAY bee us fuhn` >> (1583-1634), a Bohemian general, played an important role in the Thirty Years’ War (1618-1648). He was the inspiration for Wallenstein (1798-1799), a tragedy by the German playwright Friedrich Schiller.
Wallenstein was born on Sept. 24, 1583, in Bohemia. His father was a Protestant nobleman. Wallenstein became a Roman Catholic and fought for Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II, a Catholic, against the Ottoman Empire, a Muslim empire based in what is now Turkey.
Bohemian Protestants began the Thirty Years’ War by rebelling against the Catholic Habsburg family, which ruled Bohemia as part of the Holy Roman Empire. Wallenstein remained loyal to the Holy Roman Empire and raised a small army for Emperor Ferdinand II. Ferdinand rewarded him with the title Duke of Friedland. Wallenstein, who had been made a general, recruited troops and led them in battles in Germany and Bohemia.
Wallenstein believed he was destined to play a great political role. His goal was a huge European empire that would dominate the Ottomans and western Europe. The Catholic princes resented his great ambition and power, and the emperor was alarmed by his intrigues with Swedish and German Protestant leaders. The emperor ordered Wallenstein to be arrested or killed, and on Feb. 23, 1634, officers loyal to the emperor murdered him.
